Manu Narayan
Encyclopedia
Manu Narayan is an American actor. He has been hailed as a "promising young star...a compelling actor and outstanding singer who can light up a stage with sheer force of personality." Manu has starred on Broadway, and co-stars as Rajneesh alongside Mike Myers in the Paramount Pictures
' Film The Love Guru
, released worldwide on June 20, 2008.
and currently resides in New York City
. His vocal accomplishments range from singing with Cyndi Lauper
and The Band
’s Garth Hudson
to performing for dignitaries that include Queen Elizabeth II, President George W. Bush
, and Prime Minister Tony Blair
as well as Senator Hillary Clinton. Manu can be heard on the album A Night in the Old Marketplace, songs by The Klezmatics
' Frank London
, released in 2007 by Soundbrush Records. He has co-written and recorded the single Help Me to Find for the film Hiding Divya starring Madhur Jaffrey
as well as recorded with D A R U N A M band mate Radovan Jovicevic
the single "Have Me" for the 2007 film And Then Came Love starring Vanessa Williams
. For their band D A R U N A M, Manu and Radovan have released the EP All That's Beautiful Must Die and the title track's video featuring Janina Gavankar
.
As an actor, Manu appeared alongside Mike Myers
, Jessica Alba
, and Justin Timberlake
, in Paramount Pictures
' summer comedy The Love Guru
. On the stage, he is most widely known for originating the “hero” Akaash in the Andrew Lloyd Webber
/A.R. Rahman musical Bombay Dreams
on Broadway
for which he garnered a New York Drama League nomination. On television, Manu has guest starred on The Sopranos
, Law and Order: SVU, Lipstick Jungle
, and on the pilot episodes of Cashmere Mafia
, Gloria Sheppard, and M.O.N.Y which was directed by Spike Lee
and produced by Tom Fontana
.
Manu is an accomplished classical saxophonist in the western and South Indian Carnatic
styles. As a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, Manu won the Concerto Competition and performed the Glazunov
Saxophone Concerto with orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh. He is the Carnatic
saxophone
student of Sri Kadri Gopalnath
. While studying in Mangalore, India with Sri Gopalnath, Manu played on All India Radio as the winner of the All India Radio
music competition of Mangalore
.
Manu Narayan is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University
.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
' Film The Love Guru
The Love Guru
The Love Guru is a 2008 comedy film, directed by Marco Schnabel and starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba along with Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in the film, Myers wrote The Love Guru with Graham Gordy and produced it with Gary Barber. The film was released by...
, released worldwide on June 20, 2008.
Life and career
Narayan was born in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
and currently resides in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His vocal accomplishments range from singing with Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
and The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
’s Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
to performing for dignitaries that include Queen Elizabeth II, President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, and Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
as well as Senator Hillary Clinton. Manu can be heard on the album A Night in the Old Marketplace, songs by The Klezmatics
The Klezmatics
The Klezmatics are a Grammy Award-winning American klezmer music group based in New York City, who have achieved fame singing in several languages, most notably mixing older Yiddish tunes with other types of more contemporary music of differing origins...
' Frank London
Frank London
Frank London is a New York City-based trumpeter, bandleader, and composer active in klezmer and world music. He also plays various other wind instruments and keyboards, and occasionally sings backup vocals. With The Klezmatics, he won a Grammy award in Contemporary World Music for "Wonder Wheel...
, released in 2007 by Soundbrush Records. He has co-written and recorded the single Help Me to Find for the film Hiding Divya starring Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey is an Indian actress and food writer who introduced the Western world to the many cuisines of India.- Personal life :...
as well as recorded with D A R U N A M band mate Radovan Jovicevic
Radovan Jovicevic
Radovan Jovićević is a Serbian pop-rock/folk music composer, producer and band leader. He was born in Belgrade on January 31, 1956. He has lived in New York City since 1999.-Balkan Years:...
the single "Have Me" for the 2007 film And Then Came Love starring Vanessa Williams
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
. For their band D A R U N A M, Manu and Radovan have released the EP All That's Beautiful Must Die and the title track's video featuring Janina Gavankar
Janina Gavankar
Janina Zione Gavankar is an Indian-American actress and musician of mixed Indian and Dutch descent. Gavankar is also trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist...
.
As an actor, Manu appeared alongside Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
, Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
, and Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
, in Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
' summer comedy The Love Guru
The Love Guru
The Love Guru is a 2008 comedy film, directed by Marco Schnabel and starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba along with Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in the film, Myers wrote The Love Guru with Graham Gordy and produced it with Gary Barber. The film was released by...
. On the stage, he is most widely known for originating the “hero” Akaash in the Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
/A.R. Rahman musical Bombay Dreams
Bombay Dreams
Bombay Dreams is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan,and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two years...
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
for which he garnered a New York Drama League nomination. On television, Manu has guest starred on The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
, Law and Order: SVU, Lipstick Jungle
Lipstick Jungle (TV series)
Lipstick Jungle is an American comedy-drama television series created by DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler for NBC Universal Television Studio . The hour-long series was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Candace Bushnell, who also served as executive producer alongside...
, and on the pilot episodes of Cashmere Mafia
Cashmere Mafia
Cashmere Mafia is an American television dramedy which ran on ABC from January 6, 2008 to February 20, 2008. The series was created by Kevin Wade, who also served as executive producer alongside Darren Star, Gail Katz, Jeff Rake and Michael Pressman, with Susie Fitzgerald co-executive producing....
, Gloria Sheppard, and M.O.N.Y which was directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
and produced by Tom Fontana
Tom Fontana
Tom Fontana is an American writer and producer.-TV career:Fontana has been a writer/producer for such series as Oz , The Jury, The Beat, The Bedford Diaries, Homicide: Life on the Street, St...
.
Manu is an accomplished classical saxophonist in the western and South Indian Carnatic
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
styles. As a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, Manu won the Concerto Competition and performed the Glazunov
Alexander Glazunov
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
Saxophone Concerto with orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh. He is the Carnatic
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
student of Sri Kadri Gopalnath
Kadri Gopalnath
Dr. Kadri Gopalnath is an Indian saxophonist and one of the pioneers of Carnatic music on the saxophone.-Early life:...
. While studying in Mangalore, India with Sri Gopalnath, Manu played on All India Radio as the winner of the All India Radio
All India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
music competition of Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
.
Manu Narayan is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
.
Film
- The Love GuruThe Love GuruThe Love Guru is a 2008 comedy film, directed by Marco Schnabel and starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba along with Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in the film, Myers wrote The Love Guru with Graham Gordy and produced it with Gary Barber. The film was released by...
directed by Marco Schnabel - A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a SongA Cinderella Story: Once Upon A SongA Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song is a 2011 romantic comedy directed by Damon Santostefano and starring Lucy Hale and Freddie Stroma. The film was released direct-to-DVD by Warner Premiere on September 6 2011...
Stage
- subUrbiaSubUrbiasubUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
by Eric BogosianEric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
(revival-2006) - Second Stage Theater, New York City - SIDD: the musical by Andrew Frank (World Premiere-2006) - New World Stages, New York City
- The People Next Door by Henry Adam (American Premiere-2006) - Yale Repertory Theater, New Haven, CT
- Bombay DreamsBombay DreamsBombay Dreams is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan,and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two years...
by A.R. Rahman (Broadway Original Cast- 2004) - Drama League nomination, New York City - Metamorphoses by Mary ZimmermanMary ZimmermanMary Zimmerman is an American theatre director and playwright, born in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Career:Zimmerman is a member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company and is an Artistic Associate of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. She received her BS, MA and PhD from Northwestern University, where...
(2003) - The Repertory Theater of St. Louis, St. Louis MO - Fucking A by Suzan-Lori ParksSuzan-Lori ParksSuzan-Lori Parks is an African American playwright and screenwriter. She received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Topdog/Underdog.-Early years:...
(world premiere-2003) - The Joe Paap Public Theater, New York City - Indian Ink by Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
(east coast premiere-2002) - The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, PA - Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
by Shakespeare (2001) - Shakespeare and Company, Lenox MA
Television
- The SopranosThe SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
- Season 5 - Law and Order:SVU - Season 3
- Lipstick JungleLipstick Jungle (TV series)Lipstick Jungle is an American comedy-drama television series created by DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler for NBC Universal Television Studio . The hour-long series was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Candace Bushnell, who also served as executive producer alongside...
- Season 1 - Cashmere MafiaCashmere MafiaCashmere Mafia is an American television dramedy which ran on ABC from January 6, 2008 to February 20, 2008. The series was created by Kevin Wade, who also served as executive producer alongside Darren Star, Gail Katz, Jeff Rake and Michael Pressman, with Susie Fitzgerald co-executive producing....
- Pilot Episode - Mayor of N.Y. - Pilot Episode
- Gloria Sheppard - Pilot Episode
- As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
External links
- The Love Guru official website
- D A R U N A M's website
- And Then Came Love the filmsite - check out the trailer's second song
- Padhmashree Kadri Gopalnath's website